The large fleet soon approached the shore, but there was no command flag on its deck, and it did not appear to be hostile to them—but even so, Gawain and Baldwin, who was already preparing to leave east, each sent a detachment of cavalry to keep an eye on the place where the fleet had landed.

Soon, several fancy cloaked figures, who appeared to be the leaders of the fleet, went out into small boats on the reed fields on the shore, and when Gawain and Baldwin rode to meet him, Baldwin, seeing the stout man in the lead, said happily, "This is not my distant cousin, Winmore. Eustace? They all said that you went on a pilgrimage and have not returned yet, but I didn't expect to start this business here. ”

"This business" in Baldwin's mouth is a pirate.

The oldest profession of mankind, since the beginning of human trade with the sea, pirates came into being, in ancient Greece they were an indispensable character in legendary adventure dramas, and Cilicia has also been a place of pirates since ancient times, when the ancient Roman Republic spent a lot of energy to eliminate them, and later in the Middle Ages, although this place was stolen by the Danes or the Varyags, piracy has always existed, and mixed with more "international colors": Greeks, Syrian Maldets, SaracensThe Moors have joined this great ancient business.

Originally, Cilicia, and Panphilia to the west, the Byzantine Roman Empire's Kibbiodon Military District, had half the empire's ships and nearly 20,000 sailors, but when Manziket was defeated, the fleet of this military region was wiped out. Many took off their military uniforms and became self-reliant in piracy.

To Gawain's surprise, this group of pirates who were originally Imperial sailors or descendants of sailors. He was led by the Franks, who were born in the ancient Eustace family, who was originally just a pilgrim, but on the way back from Asia Minor, he was attacked by the Turks, and he was attacked by the bandits, and was caught by the leaderless pirates. Since then, he has become the leader and has started to do business with no capital.

Now Wenlmo's subordinates already have thirty or forty large and small warships. Nearly 2,000 people, with strongholds in Cyprus, Rhodes, Cilicia and Seleucia.

The targets of the robbery were also diverse, including the Greeks, ******, Venice, and Egyptian Fatimas, and they also engaged in the slave trade - not the white-skinned Germans or Franks to Africa. It's to bring the black slaves from Africa to this side. In short, both sides take it all, and business is very prosperous.

"Very well, Winmore, you will now lead the men and the fleet to assist me and Your Excellency Gawain in pacifying Cilicia." Baldwin was naturally very pleased, for the pilgrims lacked the strength of the sea.

"After the pacification is completed, I will naturally not treat you badly." This is Gawain's promise.

Now. Suddenly, a dark-skinned man wrapped in a crescent moon turban appeared in the pirate leader's procession and knelt down in front of Gawain. "Commander of the Great Empire's First Lombard Aconis, I am Jalguba, do you remember me? But as soon as I saw your ornament, I knew it was you, Gawain. General Lusail. ”

The name, the look, and the gender that Gawain could remember, but the man enthusiastically continued, "When you set out to conquer Calabria, you sent me a letter of commission, and then in the valley of Lucania my army was routed by the Normans, and I ran out, first to the fleet of Zahaas, and then to be driven out of the Peloponnese by the Imperial Sebastoprat, and I wandered here to serve under the banner of Lord Wynmore. ”

"If that's the case, you've had a rough time! Now how to serve under my banner, since then Andreev. Yergo is the master of the ship, you are the deputy, the salary is negotiable, and your fleet will enjoy free anchorage after I take Seleucia. "Even Gawain still can't remember this, because back then he was in the Calabria region, and there were too many nobles who were indiscriminately feuding, let alone this Saracen character, but now he definitely has the value of wooing. So the excited Jalguba, Winmore and other leaders gathered together to discuss for a while, and came to the result: Jalguba took the separated fleet, about 300 sailors, and 12 Panfylian double-decker rowing ships, and Gawain also handed over about 400 sailors' company of the "Eldest Princess's Family" to Andreev and Jalguba to jointly lead and advance to Seleucia by sea and land!

The rest of the more than 1,000 pirates, all under the command of Wielmore, assisted Baldwin's army and horses in the eastward attack on Adana.

The Wallachian company, which had suffered the most serious damage in the mountains of Paphragonia, was handed over to Wright. Bozia, along with Baldwin's warrior Auden, held Tarsus, and served as a supply and transportation to the east and west.

Gawain then secretly used the means to assign the "Wallachian Company" to the "Guardian Brigade" (which is now resting in Tarsus), and to the "Lady of the Eldest Princess" sailor company (which operated at sea) - so that he would only need to provide one more infantry company of the "Grand Duke's Dead Man" to Branas - as for the "Saint Cyril" cavalry company, which was also supposed to belong to the new brigade, it was also called by Gawain as "All cavalry horses are in short supply, It is necessary to fight in tandem" and continue to be in its own hands.

Now, the "Red Hand Brigade" still has three Italian veteran companies, three Greek companies and three sailor companies, and now, according to Anna's "promise", a thousand strong Germans who originally belonged to the armed regiment have been added. Fight in vertical or horizontal formations; Cavalry companies, sword and shield veterans, and archers and sailors then served as auxiliary operations on the flanks or behind the "Banda" team.

As for the more than 3,000 people in the "Guardian Brigade" who are actually still on the battlefield, they are also divided into five Banda detachments (ten companies, two companies per Banda), but Gawain only makes a division of the establishment, and the rest of the details are all handed over to Branas and Dorus to be responsible, "There is no cavalry, there is also a lack of archers, and there is also a lack of training, this new brigade that Anna Xiaonizi relies on only has political significance, and it is just a hand for my Red Hand Brigade on the battlefield." Anyway, that's what Gawain thought in his heart, but for the sake of the overall situation, he still didn't say it publicly.

In this case, the two brigades of the "Archers", now together with about 8,000 men (or 10,000 if they were full), hurried towards the nearest city of Zephelim to Tarsus, where Gawain had set his first target, which was to open a passage to Seleucia. (To be continued.) )